Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for June 20, 2005 CONFIDENTIALITY...DOUBLE OOPS!

From the Associated Press...

Students who flunk courses get e-mail listing all who failed

LAWRENCE, Kansas (AP) -- More than 100 students who failed their classes at the University of Kansas last semester found out who shared their misfortune.

The school's Office of Student Financial Aid sent an e-mail to 119 students Monday notifying them that they were in jeopardy of having their aid revoked.

But the names of the students were included on the e-mail address list -- meaning everyone who got the e-mail could see the names of all the other recipients.

"It was a completely inadvertent, unintentional mistake," university spokesman Todd Cohen said Thursday. "It was our error, our mistake and we deeply regret it."

Nancy George, a student on the list, said the mistake was tantamount to releasing the grades of students without their permission, which the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prohibits.

"Nobody should have known that I failed a class or that I even had a student loan," said George, who says she failed because her daughter had developed pneumonia.

Cohen said the university is contacting students to apologize. She also said the incident had been reported to the Department of Education so it could determine if there was a violation of the federal law.

CITY HS TRASHES STUDENT PRIVACY

June 20, 2005 -- Hundreds of accident reports and transcripts of former Bushwick HS students and teachers were strewn outside the school — there for the pickings of any passer-by.

Dozens of pedestrians late last week were seen thumbing through the records, which were scattered along Woodbine Street.

City education officials said the documents — spanning three decades — were in a trash bag to be shredded when a school staffer inadvertently tossed the bag curbside.

"This simply should not have happened," said Jerry Russo, a spokesman for the schools chancellor. Russo added that the matter has been referred to Special Schools Investigator Richard Condon and that "appropriate action" would be taken pending the outcome of the probe.

The documents contain names, dates of birth, home addresses and, in some cases, telephone numbers.

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